Training sessions - May 2016

A few training sessions on the canal in May,,,

Clubhouse to Bridge 18 - 10th May 2016

Clarke Lane to Higher Poynton Marina - 15th May 2016

Adlington Marina to Marple - 20th May 2016

Clarke Lane to Fools Nook Swingbridge - 25th May 2016 - The canal was closed in Bollington due to a leak, so went south for a change.

Had a couple of sessions at Brereton greenland rolling. My left sided roll seems to have returned, still can't perform a proper reverse sweep.

Canal and Brereton Sessions - April/May

Getting a bit lazy keeping the blog going for the routine stuff!... here's a summary...

Canal sessions:

April 19th - Clubhouse to Bridge 18 - 10.1km
April 24th - Clarke Lane to Higher Poynton - 16.7km
May 1st - Clarke Lane to Higher Poynton - 16.7km
May 3rd - Clubhouse to Bridge 18 - 10.1km
May 10th - Clubhouse to Bridge 18 - 10.1km
May 15th - Clarke Lane to Higher Poynton - 16.7km
May 20th - Adlington Marina to Marple - 13.8km

Brereton sessions:

April 28th - Did two rolls, water freezing!
May 4th - Sunny, but water still cold
May 12th - Lake finally warmed up!
May 19th - lots of rolling, can't work out the reverse sweep yet though.

Macclesfield Canal - 17th April 2016

Clarke Lane <> Higher Poynton Marina
Back for a quick blast on the canal - out in 53:20, back in 56:42. Not too bad. A pleasure to be out enjoying the spring sunshine.

Macclesfield Canal - 2nd April 2016

Long paddle from Clarke Lane to the northern end of the Macclesfield Canal, and then another mile towards New Mills on the Peak Forest Canal. Short break for a chewy bar and a drink, then paddled back. Just over 30 km paddled. Kept up a reasonable pace, nice not to totally fade at the end.

Macclesfield Canal - 27th March 2016

Back on the canal for a short training paddle. Clarke Lane to Bridge 18 (Adlington Marina) and back again. Out in 39 minutes, back in just over 42. Gusting southerly wind affected the times.

Bridgewater Canal - 31st January 2016

The River Goyt wasn't running at a very exciting level, so Jim and I decided to get some miles in on the Bridgewater Canal instead.

We parked up under the M60 bridge and as we were getting ready some poor lad in a rowing boat capsized about 50 metres away from us, so we got on to offer assistance. He was pulled to the side by an attending bank crew, but Jim offered up some warm clothing and a flask of coffee. He was pretty cold, only wearing a tee-shirt and tracksuit bottoms and I bet it took a while for him to warm up again with the water temperature only being about 4-5 degrees C.

After that excitement we carried on down through Sale passing many new apartment blocks and people exercising on the towpath. Urban gentrification has taken hold hereabouts, especially since the tram line was installed giving quick access to the city centre.

As we made our way out of the southern Manchester sprawl, the scenery comprised of alternating industrial complexes and apartment developments, interspersed with the odd cluster of traditional canalside cottages.

An abrupt change to the surroundings occurs when the canal leaves Oldfield Brow and makes its way past Dunham Massey park. I'd just been talking to Jim about seeing kingfishers on the Macclesfield Canal, and he said they were also present here. Then on cue a kingfisher flew past us and stayed just in front of us for a couple of hundred yards.

We clocked up the miles chatting about future paddling trips and the merits of different styles of rolling a kayak and eventually arrived at the town of Lymm. Refreshments in Lymm normally involve visiting the excellent fish and chip shop, but being a Sunday, this wasn't an option. Luckily however, a recent new option is a canal barge that has been converted to a cafe and we partook of its excellent hospitality (and warmth) with a bacon and egg butty and a cup of coffee. (http://buttyandsweet.co.uk/)

Suitably refreshed, we relaunched into the increasingly heavy rain for the uneventful return trip.

We returned to our launch site and as we were loading up a police car passed us and went over to talk to the occupants of two other cars that were parked up further under the bridge. No idea what they were up to, but perhaps it isn't the safest place to launch from. We made our own getaway and had a post paddle crumpet and coffee round Jim's to warm up.

We paddled approximately 30km. Weather was pretty miserable all the time! Must have been paddling for about 5 hours total.

Macclesfield Canal - 2nd January 2016

First paddle of 2016, a fairly slow paddle on the canal from the clubhouse to Adlington Marina and back.

Macclesfield Canal - 24th December 2015

Quick jaunt on the canal trying to stave off the excesses of the Chrismas holidays. Launched at Clarke Lane and went out and back to Adlington Marina. Can't remember my time, wasn't spectacular!

Nice to see a kingfisher again, I hope it survives the winter. At the current rate there isn't much prospect of the canal freezing.

Macclesfield Canal - Hare and Hounds - 13th December 2015

Final round of the club handicap, and I did exactly the same time as the first event of the year!... 41:58. Nice to finish off with a Christmas lunch and prize giving in the Cock and Pheasant. Didn't do too well in Neil's quiz though!

Macclesfield Canal - 25th October 2015

Club boathouse <> Higher Poynton Marina. Out in a about 49 minutes, back in just under 51.

Macclesfield Canal - 18th October 2015

Club boathouse <> Higher Poynton Marina. Out in a about 48 minutes, back in just under 50. Lots of leaves in the canal leading to a lot of them getting pinned to the bow and an annoying wash.

Macclesfield Canal Hare and Hounds Race - 11th October 2015

Finished 14th in a time of 42:24, but was held up for a while at one of the turns due to a barge getting in the way! I think I need to do some more training, that's 4 minutes down on my best time last year. Nice to see so many paddlers out - 20 paddlers in 17 boats (so that's 3 K2s).

Macclesfield Canal - 27th September 2015

Training paddle from the boathouse to Higher Poynton Marina and back. Lots of barges out, so a number of delays at bridges. Out in 47:40, back in just over 52, but had at least 5 boat delays on the return, one of which was a bit close for comfort as I over-estimated the size of a gap between two barges!

Macclesfield Canal Hare and Hounds - 13th September 2015

September club handicap "Hare and Hounds" race over 4 miles. Finished with a time of 41.14, exactly the same as the last time I did the race in March, 7th position.

Macclesfield Canal - 23rd August 2015

K1 session from the boathouse to Higher Poynton Marina and back again. About 53 minutes each way at a steady pace.

Macclesfield Hasler Race - 12th July 2015

Last year I did all the electronic entry and results for this race, so I wasn't able to paddle. This year my services weren't required, so I had no excuse.

There were 11 boats in my class, so I decided to hang around at the back of the start to avoid the mayhem of everyone trying to get through the narrow gap at the first bridge. This strategy seemed to pay-off as a I gradually then picked off my competitors one-by-one. As I got nearer the front this started to prove to be a bit harder, and I settled down in fourth place.

The canal was quite busy with barges that caused us to wait at a few of the bridges which broke the race up a bit. When you know you are going to have to wait, it's not very sporting to overtake as people are slowing down, but then once the blockage has passed the people in front get away first and can establish a bit of a gap again. And so it carried on for the return leg (the race was 4 miles in total, 2 miles out, turnaround, 2 miles back) when I got close, the boats in front would get away again at the next restriction. I got into 3rd place, but run out of time to improve on that position.

So my tactics were too cautious - I should have partaken in the sprint at the start and hopefully got to the front. Oh well, maybe next year.

Macclesfield Canal - 14th June 2015

Back on the canal for a bit of race training (I've got two races coming up in the next two weekends). Paddled from the MADCC boathouse to Higher Poynton Marina and back again. Not exactly been training much this year due to niggling injuries, so understandably a bit slow.

Macclesfield canal - 13th May 2015

Another canal session to try and ensure I don't disgrace myself at Ravenglass. Paddled from the club's boathouse to Higher Poynton Marina (bridge 15) and back. About 48 minutes each way.

Most notable incident was another attack from a Canada goose. This one charged right at me, flapping and hissing and stopping against the boat alongside me. As it stopped, it kicked up a wave that put quite a bit of water into the cockpit. I was paddling a K1 without a spraydeck, so I got quite wet. Could have been embarrassing. Not sure why the geese seem more aggressive this year.

Macclesfield Canal - 10th May 2015

With Ravenglass next weekend, I thought I had better get some more miles in, so I did a paddle with a planned duration of 3 hours. In the end I was paddling for 3 hours, 10 minutes.

I switched to paddling the Epic, since I will be using this at Ravenglass. I also paddled wearing my old fell running shoes. Ravenglass involves getting out of the boat to clip orienteering checkpoints, and the bank can be very muddy. Every year I forget this, and wear wetsuit shoes with no grip at all, so hopefully the fell shoes should give me a lot more grip.

Launched from Clarke Lane, and turned around just beyond bridge 7 (90 minute point). Return paddle was a bit slower due to headwind. Didn't feel very fit - can't believe I used to do this length of paddle at around 9 kph pace... was more like 7.5 kph. I don't think I'll be troubling the prizegiving at Ravenglass this year!

Macclesfield Canal - 6th May 2015

Another evening paddle on the canal from the MADCC clubhouse out to bridge 18 at Adlington and back. Quite windy, so not a good indicator of fitness levels. About 70 minutes paddling.